The City of Surrey's newest aquatic centre has received a prestigious design award.
The Lieutenant Governor's Award for Engineering Excellence was presented to Fast + Epp Structural Engineers, the city and HCMA Architecture + Design for the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre by the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies B.C. at the 2016 Awards for Engineering Excellence gala, held April 9 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
The Lieutenant Governor's Award recognizes a project "that excels in all areas of the rated criteria," according to information on the ACEC-BC's website.
The $55-million Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre – with a 10-lane, 50-metre pool; universal change rooms and a 9,000-square-foot fitness area – opened to the public last month at 16855 24 Ave.
According to Scott Groves, manager of the city's civic facilities division, it has been swimmingly popular.
"We are so proud of the great success of the pool with the numbers of users exceeding any of our previous aquatic centres, the great fun that you can see happening in the facility, and especially the kids from outside Surrey insisting that their parents bring them to Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre instead of their own neighbourhood pool," Groves told Peace Arch News Monday, in an email announcing the win. "Now the project is a major award winner, too."
Groves noted the Lieutenant Governor's award typically goes to multi-billion dollar projects, and that the aquatic centre was highlighted alongside projects in Bangladesh and New York City.
Fast + Epp also won the Award of Excellence in the Building category at Saturday's gala, he said.